While previous studies have examined the effect of shift work on the lives of male factory workers, little comparable research has been done on women shift workers. Shift work is present whenever employees start work at times other than 7 to 9 a.m. This research examined the influence of day, afternoon, night and rotating shift schedules on the health, family relations, social participation, solitary activities, job-related stress, and job performance of nurses.

Data for the research were obtained by distributing questionnaires to R.N.s from four hospitals in Southwestern Virginia. The total sample consisted of 371 nurses.

Two alternative models were suggested for the influence of shift work on the nurses. The first model suggested that shift work has an adverse affect on the physical and mental health of the worker, which in turn influences the family relations, informal and formal social participation, solitary activities, job performance and job-related stress. The second model proposed that shift work affected the latter group of variables, which in turn influenced physical and mental health.

The relationships between shift work and the other variables in the models were tested using analysis of covariance, including background variables as covariates. Contrary to both of these models, it was found that shift work is neither correlated with physical or mental health when background variables are held constant. This leads us to reject both of these models.

However, while shift work was found not to affect health, family relations and informal social participation, it did affect other aspects of the nurses' lives and work. Shift work affected both voluntary organization participation and time spent in solitary activities. Day shift nurses participated the most in voluntary organizations, but spent the least amount of time in solitary activities. Conversely, afternoon shift nurses participated the least in voluntary organizations, and spent the most time in solitary activities. Finally, shift work affected both job performance and job-related stress. The rotating shift was highest in job-related stress and lowest in job performance.